In Which Tess Hires Teen Prostitutes
by Incidental Vegan Cannibal
Summary: The hookers in Boston are getting younger and cheaper by the day. When Tess finds Ellie and Riley on a street corner in the wrong part of town, she decides to take them home with her. (Spoilers: no actual prostitution)


Boston's red light district was no place for little kids. Of course, it wasn't uncommon to see them there anyway, but they were usually chasing each other or fencing with their jagged plywood rapiers. Seeing them slouch against dumpsters in patched miniskirts and scuffed pumps made Tess sick to her stomach.

The taller one, with her dark skin and hair, grinned at her younger friend. "Hey, do I have lipstick on my teeth?"

The freckled girl with auburn hair peered at the other girl's teeth. "No. Do I?"

"Nah, you're good."

Maybe it was that Tess hadn't slept in two days. Maybe it was the way the older girl held the younger one's hands inside the sleeves of her jacket. Maybe it was Tess' half-suppressed memory of being seventeen and scared and cold and hungry and completely vulnerable in her first Godforsaken quarantine zone.

Whatever the reason, Tess shook her head and marched up to them. "How much for the night?" she demanded.

The girls exchanged a glance.

"Four ration cards," said the younger girl.

"That's for both of us," added the older one. Her tough expression hardened her soft features. "We're cheap, but we're a package deal."

"Smart girls," Tess said. "There's safety in numbers in your profession. Come with me, both of you." She flashed a stack of ration cards. "Have you had dinner yet?"

They both shook their heads.

"Well, I hope you like Spam," Tess said. "Come on, I live on the other side of town, and curfew is in a few minutes."

They kept up with her pretty well, despite their short legs and wobbly heels.

"How long have you two been in the business?" Tess asked over her shoulder.

"Two months," the older one answered. "We started at the same time."

"Yeah? I've never seen either of you out here before."

"We usually get picked up pretty fast," the younger one said. "Guys come up to us as soon as we go outside."

Tess stared straight ahead so she could make a disgusted face without them noticing.

"Besides, we're not out there every day," the older one said. "Only when we're low on cards."

"How the fuck are you not low on cards every single day?" Tess asked. "Look, I don't want to tell you girls how to run your business, but you really need to raise your rates. You're letting those guys take complete advantage of you."

"We just don't want to stand out in the cold for very long," the younger one said.

"And we don't want them to try to split us up."

"Trust me, kiddos, guys will always try to haggle you down before giving up," Tess said. "Triple your rate and then let them talk you down to at least four cards apiece. You'll be making double, and they'll still feel like they got a good deal."

The older girl shrugged. "Cool, thanks. Maybe we'll try that."

"So, what are your names?"

"I'm Angel," said the older girl. "And this is... fuck, what is your name, again?"

"Princess Mina Hermione Albuquerque."

Tess pressed her lips together to keep from laughing.

"Yeah, I'm not calling you that," Angel said. "I'm Angel, and she's Princess."

"So, you from Albuquerque, Princess?" Tess asked.

Princess stumbled, but she righted herself before tripping. "Wait, Albuquerque is a real place?"

Angel scoffed. "Yeah, genius. It's in Arizona."

"Oh yeah, I knew that. But, um... no, I guess it's safe to say I'm not from Albuquerque."

Tess led them up the stairs to her apartment and unlocked her door. "Okay, you two get comfy while I start dinner. I've got a pack of cards and some books on that shelf over there."

They sat on the sagging couch and whispered to each other while Tess reheated that morning's cooking oil and popped open two cans of Spam. She sliced the canned meat, dipped the strips in water, and coated them with crumbs from a stale loaf of bread before tossing them into the skillet. While the Spam filets sizzled, Tess whipped up a gravy with grease, flour, and a little bit of the salt and pepper she'd been hoarding for the past two years. Ten minutes later, she set three steaming plates on the table.

"Come eat," she said.

"Whoa, yum!" Princess nearly knocked over her chair as she jumped into it without pulling it back first. "I thought you said we were having Spam for dinner."

"We are." Tess used her butter knife to cut her breaded Spam. "You can do a lot with the shit they give you, if you know a little about cooking." And, of course, if you smuggled in a few luxuries.

The girls wolfed down their food, pausing every few minutes to drink from their aluminum water bottles. Tess pushed her day-old potatoes around her plate, more interested in her guests than her food. As the girls were scraping the last of the gravy onto their forks, Tess cleared her throat.

"I know it's none of my business, but you girls use condoms, right? Every time?"

"We don't need them," Princess blurted out. "We just-"

"Ellie!" Angel slammed her silverware down. "Shut the fuck up!"

"Look, I know they're hard to get, but they're important," Tess said. "Even if you're only using your mouth. And even if you have the implant." She patted her upper arm. "You can still get all kinds of diseases from your johns. You're both way too young to get gonorrhea of the mouth."

Ellie stared at her empty plate and bit off a hangnail. "Yeah, you're right. Don't worry about us. We use them."

"Well, I have a fuck-ton of non-expired condoms, if you need any." Tess set the wooden box on the table. "You can have as many as you think you'll use. Trust me, they're a lot easier to come by than penicillin. I've got a buddy who delivers everything from the factories up north in Portland. He hooks me up a couple of times a year, so if you two run out, you come back here for more, okay?"

"Why are you being so nice to us?" Angel demanded.

"We girls have to stick together," Tess said. "The guys sure as fuck aren't going to look out for us, so that means it's up to us. Now, do you know how to use these?"

"Um, yeah, totally!" Ellie held up one of the gray packages marked, in plain black military font, 'Standard.' "You open it up and sort of... put it on the dick... like a hat?"

"Wow." Tess laughed and rubbed her forehead. "Okay, let's start with the basics. Have you girls ever actually had sex?"

Ellie pursed her lips. "You mean with each other, or-"

"We've had lots of sex," Angel interrupted her. "Lots of sex with lots and lots of guys. We know what the fuck we're doing."

"Right." Ellie nodded. "What she said."

"Really?" Tess asked. "Because most of the girls who've been doing this for two _weeks_ look like they're dead inside. Especially the young ones. You two laugh too much to be hardened streetwalkers."

Ellie sighed. "Okay, listen, lady-"

"Tess."

"Tess. We're not really hookers. We dress like this so we can rob creeps without them reporting us to the soldiers."

"Ellie!"

"I'm sorry, Riley!" Ellie threw her hands in the air. "I feel really bad about lying to her. She's being super nice, and literally everyone else we've talked to has been an asshole to us whenever we're dressed like this."

"But if she tells anyone-"

"I won't," Tess promised. "But you two really need to be careful, or else you're gonna end up robbing the wrong pedophile and getting yourselves raped and killed."

"No, see, we always have weapons with us." Ellie showed Tess a switchblade she had hidden in her waistband.

"That's great, but all it takes is one slip-up." Tess snatched the knife before Ellie could react. "It just takes one dude with fast reflexes, or one dude with friends waiting to ambush you, or one dude with scary friends who can snatch you off the street when you're not expecting it."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Riley asked. "Starve to death? I mean, how the fuck are we supposed to know who's safe to hold up and who's going to kill us?"

Tess sighed. "I tell you what. I've got a few jobs that would go a hell of a lot easier if I had some help."

"What kinds of jobs?" Ellie asked.

"Smuggling, mostly," Tess said. "You two help me out, and I'll pay you in cards _and_ tell you which guys are safe to rob. Besides, if you work for me, no one will fuck with you."

The girls looked at each other again, doing their bizarre telepathy routine, and then they nodded.

"Deal," Riley said. "When do we start?"

"God, not tonight." Tess yawned. "You girls take my bed. I'll sleep on the couch. We'll figure out the job tomorrow, when my partner gets here. Yeah?"

"Cool with us."

The girls took the dishes to the sink and rinsed them off. Tess had figured they were orphans, but only kids from the military boarding school automatically cleaned up after dinner. She watched them methodically tag team the dishes, laughing with each other like they weren't even aware they were doing chores.

"Yeah, our building doesn't technically have any windows or door," Ellie said over the faucet. "Thanks for letting us crash here. It's a lot warmer."

"Any time." Tess lay down on the couch and pulled her blanket over her. "You girls get some sleep. We have a big day tomorrow."

She was asleep before she could hear their response.


End file.
